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Terry Gross at her microphone in 2018

Terry Gross

Terry Gross is the host and an executive producer of Fresh Air, the daily program of interviews and reviews. It is produced at WHYY in Philadelphia, where Gross began hosting the show in 1975, when it was broadcast only locally. She was awarded a National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2016. Fresh Air with Terry Gross received a Peabody Award in 1994 for its “probing questions, revelatory interviews and unusual insight.” America Women in Radio and Television presented her with a Gracie Award in 1999 in the category of National Network Radio Personality. In 2003, she received the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award for her “outstanding contributions to public radio” and for advancing the “growth, quality and positive image of radio.” Gross is the author of All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists, published by Hyperion in 2004. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and received a bachelor’s degree in English and M.Ed. in communications from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She began her radio career in 1973 at public radio station WBFO in Buffalo, NY.

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42:14

Tom Waits: On 'Alice' And 'Blood Money'

Since the 1973 release of his first album, Closing Time, Tom Waits has won fans over with his original songwriting and distinctive, gravelly vocal style. Musicians including Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart have recorded covers of his songs. He has also acted in films, including Sylvester Stallone's Paradise Alley, Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law and Robert Altman's Short Cuts. Waits has two new CDs out this month: Alice and Blood Money.

Interview
09:01

Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould

We remember paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould. He died Monday at the age of 60. Gould was a professor of geology at Harvard and curator of the university's Museum of Comparative Zoology. He wrote columns for Natural History Magazine and Discover Magazine, and had written several books, including the award-winning The Mismeasure of Man. Gould used his writing and teaching to demystify the scientific method and to provide a historical perspective on science for the layman.

18:20

Advertising Great Mary Wells Lawrence

Advertising great Mary Wells Lawrence. Her career spans the 1960s to the 1980s, and she created many memorable campaigns. She is responsible for the Alka-Selzer "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz," and the slogan, "I Love New York." Her new book is called A Big Life (in Advertising) (Knopf). She is a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame and the Copywriters Hall of Fame.

31:52

Mel Levine, MD

Mel Levine, M.D. The founder of the All Kinds of Minds Institute and the Director of the Center for Development and Learning has just written a book called A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed. Levine is a professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School.

Interview
21:06

Writer Nick Hornby

Writer Nick Hornby's novel, About a Boy, has been made into a film starring Hugh Grant and Toni Collette. It opens Friday, May 17. Hornby also wrote the novel High Fidelity, which became a hit film of the same name starring John Cusack. This interview first aired Sept. 26, 1995.

Interview
13:46

Sherpa Jamling Tenzing Norgay

Sherpa Jamling Tenzing Norgay was Climbing Leader for the 1996 Everest IMAX Filming Expedition and summitted the Mountain that year. He's also the son of Tenzing Norgay, one of the first men in history to summit Mt. Everest. In his book, Touching My Father's Soul, Jamling Norgay recounts his 1996 Mt. Everest ascent: the climb and its familial meaning. He now heads Tenzing Norgay Adventures, which is based in India. This interview originally aired April 19, 2001.

44:51

Journalist Scott Anderson

Journalist Scott Anderson. He traveled with a platoon of elite Isreali commandos into the West Bank and wrote about it in the article "An Impossible Occupation" which was the cover story of last Sundays New York Times Magazine.

Interview
21:14

Photographer Joel Meyerowitz

Since September 11th, Joel Meyerowitz has taken over 7000 photographs of Ground Zero. He gained unlimited access to the site and did so in conjunction with the Museum of the City of New York. A selection of those pictures can been seen in the May 20th issue of The New Yorker.

Interview
21:02

Maria Rosa Menocal

Maria Rosa Menocal is a R. Selden Rose Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University. She is also the author of the new book: The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians created a culture of tolerance in Medieval Spain (Little, Brown). Menocal details Andalucia, Spain from 786 to 1492 where literature, science, and tolerance flourished.

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